The Vietnam Veterans of America Foundation (VVAF), established in 1980, now the Veterans for America (VFA), is a Washington, D.C.-based international humanitarian organization that addresses the consequences of war and conflict. The founder of VVAF is Bobby Muller, a former U.S. Marine lieutenant and Vietnam veteran.
Easterseals is an American 501(c)(3) nonprofit providing disability services, with additional support areas serving veterans and military families, seniors, and caregivers.
The disability rights movement is a global social movement that seeks to secure equal opportunities and equal rights for all people with disabilities.
March of Dimes is a United States nonprofit organization that works to improve the health of mothers and babies. The organization was founded by President Franklin D. Roosevelt in 1938, as the National Foundation for Infantile Paralysis, to combat polio. The name "March of Dimes" was coined by Eddie Cantor. After funding Jonas Salk's polio vaccine, the organization expanded its focus to the prevention of birth defects and infant mortality. In 2005, as preterm birth emerged as the leading cause of death for children worldwide, research and prevention of premature birth became the organization's primary focus.
Ontario March of Dimes is a charitable organization which provides programs and services to people of all ages with physical disabilities in Ontario, Canada. Its headquarters is in Toronto. It is not affiliated with the American organization called March of Dimes.
The CNIB Foundation is a Canadian charitable organization and volunteer agency dedicated to assisting Canadians who are blind or living with vision loss, and to provide information about vision health for all Canadians. Founded in 1918 as the Canadian National Institute for the Blind to assist soldiers who had been blinded in the First World War, CNIB originally offered sheltered care and specialized employment to people with vision loss. It has since expanded to include other programs and services, including research, public education, rehabilitation counselling and training, advocacy and an alternative-format library for people living with a print disability. It is a member of the Braille Authority of North America.
In Canada, Easter Seals is a group of charitable organizations which supports the development and advancement of people who are living with different types of disabilities. Founded in 1922 by a group of Rotary Clubs, it sought to emulate the success of the American Easter Seals program.
Long-term care (LTC) is a variety of services which help meet both the medical and non-medical needs of people with a chronic illness or disability who cannot care for themselves for long periods. Long-term care is focused on individualized and coordinated services that promote independence, maximize patients' quality of life, and meet patients' needs over a period of time.
Franklin D. Roosevelt, the 32nd president of the United States from 1933-1945, began experiencing symptoms of a paralytic illness in 1921 when he was 39 years old. His main symptoms were fevers; symmetric, ascending paralysis; facial paralysis; bowel and bladder dysfunction; numbness and hyperesthesia; and a descending pattern of recovery. He was diagnosed with poliomyelitis and underwent years of therapy, including hydrotherapy at Warm Springs, Georgia. Roosevelt remained paralyzed from the waist down and relied on a wheelchair and leg braces for mobility, which he took efforts to conceal in public. In 1938, he founded the National Foundation for Infantile Paralysis, leading to the development of polio vaccines. Although historical accounts continue to refer to Roosevelt's case as polio, the diagnosis has been questioned in the context of modern medical science, with a competing diagnosis of Guillain–Barré syndrome proposed by some authors.
The history of polio (poliomyelitis) infections began during prehistory. Although major polio epidemics were unknown before the 20th century, the disease has caused paralysis and death for much of human history. Over millennia, polio survived quietly as an endemic pathogen until the 1900s when major epidemics began to occur in Europe. Soon after, widespread epidemics appeared in the rest of the world. By 1910, frequent epidemics became regular events throughout the developed world primarily in cities during the summer months. At its peak in the 1940s and 1950s, polio would paralyze or kill over half a million people worldwide every year.
Post-Polio Health International (PHI) is a relatively new name for a non-profit organization that officially began its work in 1960. For many years it was known in medical, rehabilitation, and disability circles variously as GINI, or the International Polio Network, or the Rehabilitation Gazette Network, or more familiarly as Gini’s Network, in honor of Gini Laurie, its founder and driving force until her death in 1989.
The International Ventilator Users Network (IVUN) is a nonprofit network of mechanical ventilation users, respiratory health professionals, and ventilatory equipment manufacturers. Its focus is on the health and independent living of ventilator users, whether they are using assisted ventilation long-term – at home or in nursing facilities—or short-term in emergency rooms and critical care units.
Virginia Grace Wilson "Gini" Laurie was a central figure in the 20th century development, in the United States, of the independent living movement for people with disabilities. It is sometimes said that she was one of its two "grandmothers"—the other one being Mary Switzer, who was in charge of vocational rehabilitation at the national level from 1950 to 1970.
Crotched Mountain Rehabilitation Center is located in Greenfield, New Hampshire, United States. It began as a rehabilitation center for children with polio. However, over the years it has evolved into one of New Hampshire's largest human services organizations, serving students with disabilities at Crotched Mountain School, children with autism through its "Ready Set Connect" programs, and adults with unique needs through Crotched Mountain Community Care.
The Accessibility for Ontarians with Disabilities Act, 2005 (AODA) is a statute enacted in 2005 by the Legislative Assembly of Ontario in Canada. Its purpose is to improve accessibility standards for Ontarians with physical and mental disabilities to all public establishments by 2025.
TIRR Memorial Hermann is a 134-bed rehabilitation hospital, rehabilitation and research center, outpatient medical clinic and network of outpatient rehabilitation centers in Houston, Texas that offers physical rehabilitation to patients following traumatic brain or spinal injury or to those suffering from neurologic illnesses.
Stephen Arthur "Steve" Mantis is a Canadian advocate for injured workers and people with disabilities. Best known for years of volunteer efforts to build a "fair and comprehensive" system for workers injured on the job, Mantis organized injured worker self-help groups locally in Thunder Bay, then regionally in Northwestern Ontario by co-founding the Ontario Network of Injured Workers Groups and nationally by co-founding the Canadian Injured Workers Alliance. Mantis was appointed to the Board of Directors of the Ontario Workers Compensation Board from 1991 to 1994.
The Courage Kenny Rehabilitation Institute is a rehabilitation medicine institute in Minneapolis, United States.
Betty Dubiner was a Canadian-born Israeli, who was instrumental in obtaining vaccines for the new nation of Israel to combat a polio epidemic and the development of programs to assist disabled people. Founder of the organization Ilenshil-Polio, which later became the Israeli Association for Children with Disabilities (ILAN) and the Israel Sports Center for the Disabled, she was recognized with the President's Award for Volunteerism in 1988, for her contributions to Israeli society.
